Quick Links

Club PA 2.0 has arrived! If you'd like to access some extra PA content and help support the forums, check it out at patreon.com/ClubPA

The image size limit has been raised to 1mb! Anything larger than that should be linked to. This is a HARD limit, please do not abuse it.

Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

Magic: the Gathering: Cardboard Crack

Shamelessly stolen from the last OP(s). Including the fact that it was stolen from an even earlier OP.

Welcome to the CF Magic: the Gathering Thread!

SO M:TG this is what it is, from a reputable source of course.

Magic: The Gathering (colloquially "Magic", "MTG", or "Magic Cards") is a collectible card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic is the first example of the modern collectible card game genre and still thrives today, with an estimated six million players in over seventy countries. Magic can be played by two or more players each using a deck of printed cards or a deck of virtual cards through the Internet-based Magic: The Gathering Online or third-party programs.

Each game represents a battle between powerful wizards who use the magical spells, items, and fantastic creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, the gameplay of Magic bears little resemblance to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games. (Wikipedia)

That's Magic like most of us you are going to dump a good chunk of cash and time into this so get comfortable

A little run down on some FAQ:

Q: So I bought some of these here Magical Cards. They've got funny symbols on them and numbers and are different colors. Help!

A: Magic is a pretty complex game, but the basics are easy to get the hang of. Magic cards generally come in one of five colors that each specialize in different things. White, Blue, Black, Red, and finally Green. By laying down lands of appropriate colors you can add mana to your mana pool and 'cast' these cards into play, with the goal of driving your opponent's life total down from 20 to 0! For a more detailed explanation, see the resources at the end of the post.

Q: I keep hearing about 'Type 2' and 'Type 1.5' and 'Standard' and all sorts of crazy stuff. What the hell are those?

A: In sanctioned Magic (that's tourney play), there are what are called 'formats', that may have different rules and different legal card pools. Standard and Extended are the most common 'Constructed' (played using pre-built 60 card decks with 15 card sideboards) formats. Limited is a different animal altogether.

You can find a list of formats HERE.

Q: Okay, that makes sense. I think I get it. You mentioned Limited... what's that?

A: Limited formats are the other side of the Tournament Magic coin. When playing limited Magic, you usually have a restricted pool of cards, usually from freshly opened product, that you must build a 40 card deck from. Standard Magical rules apply otherwise. The two most common Limited formats are Sealed Deck and Draft.

Q: What do you do when you play Sealed Deck or Draft, then?

A: Sealed Deck is very simple: you take a Tournament Pack and two boosters (sanctioned formats tend to use the newest block, for us that's the newly released Shards of Alara), rip 'em open and build your deck. Draft works a little differently; everyone has three packs. Everyone opens one, takes a card they like, and passes it to the next person. When all the cards are 'drafted', you build 40 card decks and play. In both cases, basic lands are provided by the tournament organizer.

Here's some awesome places to visit if you're bored at work and wanna work on your game:

Magicthegathering.com - This is the Magic mothership! You can find all sorts of goodies here, including article series that cover the many facets of magic from both a player and designer perspective. I'm pretty partial to Making Magic, Building on a Budget, and Limited Information!

Starcity Games - This is probably the next biggest Magic site next to the mothership; it has its own database alongside its own daily columns. As an added bonus, Starcity is a very reputable Magic retailer, and is a good place to look if you want a price reference for certain cards.

The Magic Academy - This is a series at the magic web site that was written purely as a tool for new players to get themselves familiar with the game. While it doesn't talk about the BASIC BASICS, it does explain to beginner players the philosophies behind certain cards, when to play them, when to attack, how to block correctly, and other helpful topics.

Essentialmagic.com - This is another very helpful magic site that allows you to construct decks and post them online for critique. It also has a comprehensive list of formats and what sets are legal in each of them.

Five Rules for Avoiding Manascrew - This is an article I think is indispensable for any player as it teaches how to devise a solid mana base for any deck in a few easy steps.

Deckbuilding 101: Five Tips for Better Deckbuilding - This is another article I consider to be a must-read for any Magic player. It doesn't really discuss specific strategy, but certain fundamentals that every Magic player should absorb right into his bone marrow. Yes it is that important.

The Magic Rules page - This is where you can find the comprehensive rules alongside a list of every keyword in magic.

MTGSalvation - This is another great website dedicated to Magic. Their forums are extremely helpful in terms of pretty much anything Magic related (trading, deckbuilding, spoiling cards, news, etc.).

I am NOT liking the design concept of "5 life or less" . That's a dangerous place to be in this format

That's kind of the point?

Although if I can climb up to 30+ life using Chalice of Life*, I'd be BEGGING for an opponent to try some Fatal Hour shenanigans.

*FINALLY! A card template that refers to "starting life total" so I don't have to scale it for my local EDH and/or Archenemy games. I hope this is a recurring thing.

I guess I'm just worried about the common level of Brimstone Volley in combination with this theme. Like I said, though, I love the flavor, and if I see more "woah come from behind" action I'm sure I'll change my opinion.

I only have a small pool of players to test out my decks, but the new blue illusion deck I put together yesterday has gone 7-1 with no mulligans and most wins by turn 6 or 7. I don't have it with me so I don't have the specifics, but it looks like:

I am NOT liking the design concept of "5 life or less" . That's a dangerous place to be in this format

That's kind of the point?

Although if I can climb up to 30+ life using Chalice of Life*, I'd be BEGGING for an opponent to try some Fatal Hour shenanigans.

*FINALLY! A card template that refers to "starting life total" so I don't have to scale it for my local EDH and/or Archenemy games. I hope this is a recurring thing.

I guess I'm just worried about the common level of Brimstone Volley in combination with this theme. Like I said, though, I love the flavor, and if I see more "woah come from behind" action I'm sure I'll change my opinion.

I'm still skeptical, because Ancient Grudge is also floating around. If your opponent is playing Wolf Run with Inkmoth Nexus, or just Wolf Runs a Titan, you'll die without ever seeing your Fateful Hour trigger.

In what existing deck does it fit though? It can't block so it'll just get crushed by various aggro decks. Unless there's some kind of free sac outlet with a good effect. Plus, it still needs other zombies to function well. It's comparable to Bloodghast, but at least that had a lord that gave it +2/+1 and flying.

Gravecrawler could spell the return of Birthing Pod, oddly enough. Also Strangleroot Geist. Getting a good aggressive 2drop for Pod is pretty slick, and Gravecrawler can be cast from the bin once you sac your Strangleroot Geist to get a Skaab Ruinator on the field.

In what existing deck does it fit though? It can't block so it'll just get crushed by various aggro decks. Unless there's some kind of free sac outlet with a good effect. Plus, it still needs other zombies to function well. It's comparable to Bloodghast, but at least that had a lord that gave it +2/+1 and flying.

It doesn't fit into existing decks. It's going to trigger a bunch of new Aggro Black strategies. This plus Diregraf Ghoul means that Black now has two exceptional one-drops. And Black can swing with abandon with Gravecrawler, because it doesn't matter if it dies.

I've spent most of the day thinking about different ways to use it. I want a full set of it right now.

In what existing deck does it fit though? It can't block so it'll just get crushed by various aggro decks. Unless there's some kind of free sac outlet with a good effect. Plus, it still needs other zombies to function well. It's comparable to Bloodghast, but at least that had a lord that gave it +2/+1 and flying.

It doesn't fit into existing decks. It's going to trigger a bunch of new Aggro Black strategies. This plus Diregraf Ghoul means that Black now has two exceptional one-drops. And Black can swing with abandon with Gravecrawler, because it doesn't matter if it dies.

I've spent most of the day thinking about different ways to use it. I want a full set of it right now.

If there's a zombie with Undying you can even clear the board with BSZ and rebuy your army for cheap.

In what existing deck does it fit though? It can't block so it'll just get crushed by various aggro decks. Unless there's some kind of free sac outlet with a good effect. Plus, it still needs other zombies to function well. It's comparable to Bloodghast, but at least that had a lord that gave it +2/+1 and flying.

No Nocturnus. It would grind out card advantage through Gatekeeper and Bloodghast. The deck was so removal-heavy that often by the end of the game you were grinding your opponent down by attacking for 2 or 4 with just one or two vampires in play, and they'd have nothing to block with.

However, the environment was different. Decks were a lot less creature-heavy, so Gatekeeper hurt a lot more. Today, you're facing Mirran Crusaders and Phantasmal Images copying Lord of the Unreal and token generators everywhere. There are too many things that will block a Gravecrawler and laugh.

The Gravecrawler needs something more to be good, and I'm not sure what that something is. Maybe a lord? Maybe it just needs to hold a Sword. He's still promising, though.

Would Curse of Death's Hold create truly undying Undying creatures? The -1/-1 effect of the card would cancel the +1/+1 counter but what would happen on subsequent deaths?

No, the -1/-1 effect from Curse of Death's Hold is a constant effect. It does not cancel the +1/+1 counter.

To make it even more confusing, if an Undying creature with it's +1/+1 counter on is killed by an infect creature, the undying one dies, goes to the graveyard, and it's token will not cancelled out by the infect counters. It will stay dead.

In what existing deck does it fit though? It can't block so it'll just get crushed by various aggro decks. Unless there's some kind of free sac outlet with a good effect. Plus, it still needs other zombies to function well. It's comparable to Bloodghast, but at least that had a lord that gave it +2/+1 and flying.

It'll fit nicely in my Zombie EDH deck that has like 18 fucking Lords of one form or another in it. :-D

First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!

0

FeralＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＺＡＲＤalong with you if I get drunk well I know I'm gonna be gonna be the man whoRegistered Userregular